These are just some rough ideas, not yet a proposal. I've tentatively called this CS1 - a first course in computer science, because that is where it seems to fit in existing curricula. The current focus is on teaching the basic concepts of modern programming, and doing it in a way that will educate and motivate both CIS majors and non-CIS technical professionals. Eventually, the focus might include more tools that might be valuable to technical professionals - math analysis, mechanical design, circuit design, etc. To qualify, a tool must be practical, simple, and teach something fundamental. I'll always remember the drafting course required when I was a freshman. I had no interest in drafting, and the tools we used are now obsolete, but I learned to think spatially, and comminucate precisely my ideas in a drawing.
Our first "tool" is Python, a simple object-oriented language that is surprisingly powerful, yet about as simple as any computer language can be. As an engineer with 30 years experience in academics and industry, I've always been frustrated at the computational tools I had to work with. C++ and Java are too complex for a non-CIS technical professional who may go months without using these tools, and have to re-learn the language just to solve a simple problem. BASIC became my most frequent problem solver, with an occasional effort in C, usually finished by a programmer who actually knew the language.
Since discovering Python in 2002, I have completely abandoned BASIC, and written all my programs in Python. I have also finally learned to appreciate the advantages object-oriented programming. What I had earlier dismissed as "hype" (because the textbood examples didn't solve any problem I couldn't solve another way in BASIC), I now see as the natural solution to all but the smallest of programming problems. I've also developed a serious interest in Java (an easy extension to Python). I haven't yet done a project large enough to really need the added features of Java, but I am finding it an excellent tool to develop a more in-depth understanding of issues that Pyhon makes so easy that I use them without thinking.
I wish I had Python when I was in college, and when I was working with all those horrible, proprietary scripting languages that were good for controlling one tool from one vendor.
